[FEATURE] VIPER PRESENTS: JAE STEPHENS

Signed to Issa Rae’s label Raedio, Jae Stephens is an R&B and pop princess on the rise to stardom. Get to know the Dallas-born, Pasadena-raised songstress better with this VIPER Presents…

What five words define your sound?

Playful, slick, melodic, throwback, hooky! 

Tell me something unique about your creative process  

I’m a bit of a control freak when it comes to recording – I like to record myself at home and I almost spend more time on my vocal arrangements and layering than I do on writing the actual songs!

Which song of yours would you like people to hear first? 

‘Body Favors’! I feel like I perfectly captured my personality and music taste in two minutes and 56 seconds. 

What inspired you to make that song? 

I was having such a terrible morning the day we made ‘Body Favors’, so bad that my manager seriously had to talk me into going to the session. When Johnny (Goldstein) began free styling the opening bassline, I instantly perked up and just wanted to write the rest with Dewain (Whitmore) as fast as possible. The undeniable joy and hookiness of the song seriously turned my whole day around and resonated with me so deeply on a sonic level that it ended up shaping the direction of my entire project.

What’s the most vulnerable you’ve allowed yourself to be when writing/making music? 

Writing with people is still scary to me as an introvert, but I allow myself to really open up during the process in order to allow any and all ideas to flow freely! I’m never precious or shy about anything during the writing process, which is probably why I opt to keep the recording process more intimate and to myself.

What’s the best/worst experience you’ve had on stage?  

Pretty recently I had a bit of a nightmare at a New York show where I had a horrible allergy attack the day before that was only made worse on the flight over – I could barely breathe or hear myself, let alone hit a single note! Luckily my Jaebaes were in the audience helping me out – it was the biggest turnout I’d ever had and the loudest I’d ever heard my lyrics sung back at me, so it really helped sweeten a sour night.

What is your favourite song to perform? 

I’ve only really performed it once but ‘Body Favors’ is a lot of fun because halfway through I realise how silly it is and just really let loose with it. I also love ‘Girls Don’t Cheat’ because the song is so braggadocious I feel like I’m playing a character whenever I perform it. 

Which artist/song/album made you want to make music? 

Beyoncé has been my idol from as early as I can remember. She’s been the standard for the perfect pop star since I started singing as a child and still reigns supreme today! My earliest covers, performances, and even down to the way I posed for pictures as a kid – they were inspired by her.

What’s the meaning behind your name? 

It’s a bit of a long and slightly embarrassing story. Real Jaebaes remember!

If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing instead? 

As a kid I was always writing. Nowadays it’s a million songs a month but I used to write a lot of short stories and poems, I even wrote an entire TV pilot at the age of 13 that’s probably sitting on an old laptop somewhere. I’d definitely still be a writer in some capacity!

What’s success to you?

Success to me is seeing my creative dreams realised. Every time I nail a concept I really wanted to write about or see a vision I had perfectly executed in a music video, I feel like I’ve accomplished a major feat. I’m trying to see even the small wins as major successes because they’re all helping me realise the bigger dream I’m trying to live out.

What moment in your life/career forced you to change direction?  

I had to make a verbal decision to focus on my music after reaching a bit of a stagnant point in my career where I felt undervalued and unfulfilled songwriting for other artists. Once the opportunity to work with Raedio/Def Jam came along, I saw it as an opportunity to go all in and commit to myself as an artist!

Where can people keep in touch with you? 

I’m @jaephens on Insta, Tiktok, Twitter, and most other places!

Photo by Randijah Simmons.